Both NIU tennis teams will take one more for the road this weekend.

The men’s squad heads to Northwestern Sunday for its 1 p.m. match. The women cruise through Michigan for an 11 a.m. match against Eastern Michigan Saturday and a 10 a.m. match against Western Michigan Sunday. These contests will conclude both squads’ away games this season.

The Big Ten won’t seem unfamiliar to men’s coach Carl Neufeld, whose team is coming off last weekend’s losses to Minnesota and Wisconsin. But Sunday’s competition against the 16th-best team in the nation, second-best in the Midwest region, could cause some fits for the netters.

“This arguably could be the toughest match of the year,” Neufeld said. “They are definitely the favorite to win the match—I would be kidding myself to say that we have the better team. But they may not have the better team on Sunday.”

The Wildcats feature No. 1 seed Steve Herdoiza, who ranks 11th in the country.

Neufeld said the Huskies’ 15-8 record hasn’t been indicative of the effort given against other Big Ten squads.

“I think if you talked to Big Ten coaches, you’d find out we were in every match,” Neufeld said. “I think we’re competitive against the highest levels in the midwest. This is a great time to play (Northwestern) when we’ve had plenty of experience.”

Neufeld commented on outstanding performances by No. 1 seed Steve Wiere, who won all three of his matches last weekend. He also praised Wiere’s double’s partner Dan Bowers, along with Eric Andersch and Mats Persson.

In hoping to beat Northwestern, we’ll have to add two more names to that list—so stay tuned,” Neufeld said.

Women’s coach Patty Groth doesn’t think her squad will be looking up to the competition, but rather the netters will fit right in.

“I think all three teams are fairly comparable with each other,” Groth said. “They’re both very strong teams. It’s going to come down to literally which team is having a good day on the court.”

Groth complimented her team’s preparation for the weekend, saying “everyone’s had a good week of practice.”